Worthplaying Preview: Pipe Mania

''Planned for the end of this month, Pipe Mania is expected to lead puzzle fanatics and nostalgia-gaming buffs into a cozy, if fast-paced and thumb-twitching, autumn. With a thoroughly updated Pipe Mania (also known as PipeDreams in the U.S.), Empire Interactive continues its mission in reviving and expanding upon classic puzzle titles. The new title, based on the casual computer game Pipe Mania, which was originally delivered in 1989, will be available for - deep breath here: NDS, Wii, PSP, PS2, PC, and Xbox Live Arcade.

Empire Interactive's PJ Snavely and Ben Wilkins participated in a press event in order to give gamers the inside track on what to expect from their game which will both upgrade and reinvent one of the all-time hits of puzzle gaming for today's popular gaming platforms. At first blush, tinkering with a much-beloved Pipe Mania seems to be a tall order. Not only has the central game design appeared on numerous legacy platforms and in several sequels and expansions, but in the intervening years, the Pipe Mania paradigm has cropped up in various seemingly unrelated games. (If you played BioShock for Xbox 360 or Windows PC or you're looking at it as a holiday must-have for your PlayStation 3, you'll know all about the game's "hacking" puzzles. All of those BioShock puzzles are rooted in Pipe Mania's design, albeit presented in a simpler form, artistically suited to the title in which they reside, and with unique rewards specific to the gameplay of that groundbreaking, critically acclaimed FPS.)''